The Fine Print
by Kelkale
Summary: AU In which Ryoma is a spoiled rich singer who signed a contract with the wrong person. [TezukaEchizen]
1. Chapter 1

So new story- let me know if I should continue or not.

Disclaimer: Don't own Prince of Tennis.

Chapter 1

Ryoma heard the door open behind him but he ignored it. The second warning was a polite cough from somewhere to his immediate left. It couldn't have been anyone he knew. All his staff knew to leave him alone when he was "having fun" (his idiot father's description).

Echizen leaned his head to the left and started nibbling on the girl's ear so he could properly greet his new visitor. It was a suit. Ryoma snorted into the redhead's hair as his fingers with practiced ease reached under the see-through top to unclasp the girl's bra. Raising an eyebrow in question, Ryoma finally spoke to the stranger. "Did you come to join us?"

"Echizen Ryoma?" the suit didn't even flinch at the insinuation. Instead he continued to stare at Ryoma with a disapproving look, saying Ryoma's name as if he knew exactly who the boy was and was passing his judgement on the boy. A challenge, Ryoma decided.

"Do you work for my father?" Ryoma asked. The girl sitting on his lap moaned his name and Ryoma suddenly stood up, knocking the girl to the floor. "Get out." The suit never glanced at the half-naked girl on the ground, even when she swore at Echizen and ran out of the room.

"Did you know her name?" the man asked while Ryoma calmly buttoned his shirt.

Ryoma rolled his eyes and grabbed a water bottle off the coffee table in the room. He must be new to the entertainment industry. Probably a former accountant with wannabe dreams of making it big as a manager or something. "We didn't get that far. Someone interrupted us." Ryoma said pointedly glaring at the suit before taking a big gulp of water. He could still taste the overpowering sweet taste of peppermint from that girl's mouth. He was actually grateful this man had interrupted him before he had to go any farther. Not that he was going to tell him that. "So you have a purpose for being here Mister Gentleman?"

"Tezuka Kunimitsu," the suit introduced himself. "Ryuzaki hired me."

Ryoma's eyes narrowed. Ryuzaki was his former manager, back when he had been an unknown kid of 15 years, trying desperately to get into show business without using his father's name. As soon as he had made it, Ryuzaki had been dropped for the first of a string of very pretty, very stupid managers which his father personally oversaw. The real business side of his career was handled by his mother, on the condition that she never had anything to do with Nanjiroh Echizen anymore. So why someone working for the old woman would want to see him could not be good. He vaguely wondered why his bodyguards had let Tezuka in.

"Are you here for money? Or perhaps to kill me?" Echizen mused outloud, "You don't look like a killer."

The suit, Tezuka, reached slowly into his coat pocket and Ryoma flinched. For all his teasing, he would rather keep living for now, thank you very much. Except instead of a pistol Tezuka removed a set of papers, a contract. Correction, his contract. Tezuka placed the papers on the table in front of him and finally took a seat, sitting stiffly in the armchair next to him.

"Five years ago you signed this contract with Ryuzaki. She's allowed you to leave on your own for awhile but the time has come Echizen. You will return to Seigaku Records in the next week or we will consider this breech of contract."

"I'd like to see her try. My mother is Echizen Rinko, one of Japan's best lawyers. She won't get anything from this supposed "breech of contract." Ryoma smirked, enjoying the superior feeling he got from one-upping this suit.

Tezuka frowned as he stared at the smug young man next to him. "Echizen did you ever read the contract fully before you signed it?"

Ryoma snorted. "Of course not. Ryuzaki was an old family friend and my parents told me it was just a formality."

"Then you brought this on yourself Echizen. I'll see you in a week." Tezuka sighed and stood up, leaving the contract still set down in front of the singer. Ryoma scowled and purposely ignored the older man's exit. As soon as the door clicked shut he reached over and tore the papers into a small pile of confetti. Even though he knew there had to be other copies of the contract, it made him feel a lot better.

Standing up and stretching, Ryoma made a mental note to call both his parents within the next week so they could be prepared for the legal actions that would soon follow. Right now, however, he just wanted to go to sleep. There were very few of his personal items left in the dressing room from the show that night but he gathered them up, tossing them all into a battered duffle bag. Finally ready to leave, Ryoma headed for the door until a flash of white distracted him. Sitting on the coffee table, a stack of papers, whole and intact, were carefully placed as they had been twenty minutes ago before they had been turned into confetti. His contract had _fixed_ itself.

Tbc...

Spoiled


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Prince of Tennis

A/N: Look I actually updated quickly! Thanks everyone for the reviews- I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Chapter 2

Ryoma couldn't understand the contract. And it had nothing to do with the fact that the damn piece of paper was able to live through tearing, shredding, burning, and being dumped in the bottom of his swimming pool.

No this was due to the fact that the paper must have been written in Latin. If this was English or Japanese then surely he would recognize more words than his name and some prepositions, right? Honestly who exactly was the "third party" and what was an "arbitration clause"? Ryoma let out a heavy sigh and tossed the paper on the floor of his bedroom. Karupin immediately set on the mysterious paper and started shredding it but there were no worries, it would repair itself immediately.

The truth was, Ryoma needed a lawyer to read this contract. And unfortunately, neither of his parents were speaking to him at the moment. As soon as he mentioned Ryuzaki to his mother she suddenly decided she had desperate work to do out of the country. His father was no better (not that he was expected much in the first place) he was informed by his father's ditzy secretary that Nanjiroh had sudden had urgent business with his current manager in Bermuda for some strange reason.

Which left him alone with a contract that might as well have been written in gibberish for all he could read it. _"Echizen did you ever read the contract fully before you signed it? Then you brought this on yourself." _Every time he saw the contract he heard that suit's words in his head. The warning unsettled him, and while he normally would have shaken the whole event off and let his parents deal with the aftermath this time he felt a huge pressure to do this on his own. Although he couldn't see it, an unseen presence was closing in on him, and he may have already walked into their trap.

The doorbell ringing took Echizen out of his musings. He continued to lie on his king-sized bed, since he had a butler to answer it but he was rather curious- his mansion and estate were huge so he had a guard post at the bottom of his driveway entrance. So why would anyone need to ring the house bell? His mind flitted back to Tezuka, the suit who had somehow managed to sneak around his bodyguards at his dressing room. He sat up in bed at the thought. Tezuka Kunimitsu would be a welcome sight at the moment. Whether Ryoma yelled at him, asked him for help, or attempted again to make the stoic man blush, the older man would definitely be entertaining.

And then Ryoma noticed that the doorbell was still ringing. He currently employed about 6 maids and 2 butlers, half of which should be available at the moment to answer the door. So why were his servants being lazy? "Probably picked up their bad behavior from my idiot father," Ryoma muttered under his breath as he got up and made his way slowly to the front of the house.

Pulling the elaborately carved wooden front door open Echizen got a shock as a completely different suit was standing in front of him. "Who are you?" Ryoma demanded bluntly.

"A demon," the attractive brunette smiled and held out his hand with a small white card on it. Echizen stared warily at this insane suit who looked so completely angelic that at any other time he would have hit on him. With a quick movement, he reached out and snatched the white paper from the demon/angel's hand. Glancing at the paper, he was no less confused.

"Fuji Syusuke?" he read off the card outloud.

"At your service Echizen-kun," the demon bowed sightly, as if mocking him. Except for the name and a cell phone number, the card was blank.

"Exactly what service are you selling Fuji-san?" Ryoma sneered, "I imagine you don't have any girl scout cookies in your bag, do you?"

"Would you like some? I'll remember that next time Echizen-kun. Today however I must only offer my services as a lawyer. I understand you're having some troubles with a contract?" Fuji asked with another chilling smile.

"How did you know that?" Echizen demanded, unnerved that this person had found out about his problem. Was this an attempt at blackmail?

"I'm afraid that's a secret Echizen-kun. However I will happily share my abilities to translate your contract if you would like. It would be my pleasure." the brunette was being far too vague for Ryoma's liking. How he got here, how he knew about the contract, why he called himself a demon of all things- there were too many mysteries here.

"And what's it going to cost me Fuji-san? You're a demon, right? You going to steal my first born child or something?" Ryoma was set on refusing, but he was curious how far Fuji was going to take this farce.

Syusuke laughed, a soft melodious chuckling that seemed so wrong for the situation, "That would be quite impossible Echizen-kun. And I'm not that kind of demon. You know you should be careful about who you insult Echizen Ryoma. It might come back to harm you." Fuji chuckled again and opened his eyes, piercing blue sapphires that made the smaller boy shudder. "I'm perfectly willing to do you this favor for free. I believe that all good deeds are their own rewards- don't you?"

Ryoma found himself speechless at the moment, still stuck in the brunette's gaze so he merely nodded his acceptance. "Wonderful. Then let's see the contract." Fuji smiled, closing his eyes in amusement and Ryoma found he could breath again.

"It's in my bedroom," Ryoma stuttered, but then he felt a brush against his legs and noticed Karupin standing there with the papers in his mouth.

"Oh what a loyal pet you have, fetching your documents." Fuji praised, reaching out to grab the papers from the cat. Karupin hissed once the paper left his mouth and swung his claws out at the demon. Fuji ignored the cat and settled the papers carefully in his briefcase. "I'll read these papers and type up a translation which you can understand Echizen-kun. I should have it done in a couple days, if you have any problems call my cell."

Ryoma reached out suddenly and grabbed hold of Fuji's bag, surprising the suit. "Will the papers go with you? Can you destroy them for me? I'll give you anything if you do."

Fuji actually softened at his desperate statement. "Oh Echizen-kun it's far too late for that now. If only you had made that lovely offer five years ago." Fuji sighed and leaned forward, Ryoma automatically closing his eyes and flinching as the brunette came closer to him. However, instead of pain, Ryoma felt the barest brush of lips on his forehead. "I wish you luck Echizen Ryoma."

When Ryoma looked up again, Fuji Syusuke was halfway down the walkway. The demon smiled and waved at the singer. "I apologize for the inconvenience I caused you coming here Echizen-kun. Next time I'll bring cookies."

He blinked for only a second, but by then Fuji Syusuke, lawyer and demon, had vanished. The whole thing felt surreal like a strange dream except for the fact that he still had Fuji's card in his pocket and the contract had vanished. And there was no way he was going to call Fuji Syusuke for any problems.

Not after his so-called "inconvenience" led to the sudden and complete disappearance of all members of his mansion's staff. "Not that kind of demon my ass," Ryoma muttered angrily under his breath as he just finished his fifth police interview over his missing staff.

Tbc...


	3. Interlude

Ok yes I am fully aware of how long I've been gone. So today I'm posting a small continuation of the story and with luck when I get back from vacation I will have a couple more longer chapters to add. (And maybe a new story- we'll see.) So enjoy.

Also, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story- I'm glad to hear people are liking it so far.

Disclaimer: Don't own Prince of Tennis.

Interlude

Email sent 11/24 at 8:35 a.m.

To: Fuji Syusuke

From: Tezuka Kunimitsu

Subject: Inappropriate Behavior

Fuji,

Your meeting yesterday with our client violated several rules. As I'm sure I don't need to remind you of your already precarious situation within the company, I recommend that you steer clear of Echizen Ryoma unless otherwise ordered.

-Tezuka

Email send 11/24 at 8:41 a.m.

To: Tezuka Kunimitsu

From: Fuji Syusuke

Subject: Re: Inappropriate Behavior

Tezuka,

Were you watching?

-Fuji

* * *

Phone call conversation between Nanjiroh and Rinko Echizen on 11/24 at 10:31 a.m.

Rinko- Where the hell are you this time Nanjiroh?

Nanjiroh- No need to be so upset Rinko-baby. I'm just making sure that our son's newest manager is fully versed on all her job functions.

Rinko- Since you hired her I'm sure she's quite capable at spreading her legs. What we need to talk about however is Ryuzaki and Ryoma.

Nanjiroh- (Outraged sputtering for several moments followed by a long pause) Fine.

Rinko- My office was faxed a copy of the contract our son signed 5 years ago.

Nanjiroh- Ah I believe Bunny mentioned something about a large stack of papers coming in yesterday but then she dropped her pen on the floor and I had to help her look for it.

Rinko- (mutters something about men and pigs) This contract is ironclad Nanjiroh. There's nothing in it that I can use as a loophole to get our son away from Ryuzaki's clutches. I thought you said this woman was a friend of yours and we could trust her.

Nanjiroh- (awkward laugh and a pause) Yeah, well about that, huh it's kind of a long story. She's less of a friend and more of an old witch who hates my guts. You see a long time ago she was my mentor and then I...

Rinko- Don't tell me. You slept with her. You're an idiot, Why would you think to place our son's future in her hands then?

Nanjiroh- (silent) You haven't read the whole contract yet, have you? You've yet to see _my_ page.

* * *

Interoffice memo from Fuji Syusuke to Tezuka Kunimitsu 11/24 at 11:30 a.m.

Tezuka,

You never replied to my e-mail.

-Fuji

Interoffice memo from Tezuka Kunimitsu to Fuji Syusuke 11/24 at 11:45 a.m.

Fuji,

I fail to see the importance behind replying when you already know the answer. And I should remind you that neither e-mail nor company memos are meant to be used for personal purposes.

-Tezuka

* * *

Phone call between Fuji Syusuke and Tezuka Kunimitsu on 11/24 at 12:10 p.m.

Fuji- Saa Tezuka you should have just told me you wanted me to call you instead of leaving subtle hints.

Tezuka- (sighs) Fuji please tell me you have something work-related to discuss. I'm in the middle of some important paperwork right now.

Fuji- You were jealous weren't you Tezuka?

Tezuka- Fuji this has nothing to do with work.

Fuji- (chuckles) So you're not going to deny it then? Well I can't blame you really. Afterall, he has grown up so handsome in the last five years.

Tezuka- (a pause) Stay away from him Fuji. Echizen already has too much to deal with at the moment.

Fuji- He asked for my help.

Tezuka- He doesn't need your kind of help.

Fuji- So you plan to be his knight in shining armor Kunimitsu? How romantic!

Tezuka- (sighs) I _plan_ to follow the instructions which Ryuzaki has laid out. And if you valued your life you would do the same. (hangs up)

Fuji- But what about Ryoma's life Tezuka? How much are you willing to sacrifice for Seigaku?(Dial tone)

Tbc…


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the extremely long wait!! Real life has kept me busy but I'm sure you prefer just getting to the fic so enjoy! And thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Disclaimer: Don't own Prince of Tennis.

Chapter 3

Ryoma Echizen was currently listening to the dial tone on his latest cell phone. It had now been three days since he had seen any sign of his contract or Fuji Syusuke and while that should be cause to celebrate, he was starting to panic.

His mother had left a message on his voicemail yesterday in a shaky voice telling him to leave Japan now. When he called her back, he just got voicemail. His father's number had been disconnected both work and his personal cell. His missing staff was still an open case with the Tokyo police, and with the empty mansion so quiet both he and Karupin jumped at every loud noise. He had contemplated hiring a new staff or invited a girl or two over for some company but the thought of Fuji popping up out of the blue and "disappearing" more people ruined that idea. He was not going to assist the self-professed demon in murder.

But he did need his help. There was only one more day until the week that Tezuka had given him ended. Since the police had his passport because of murder suspect charges, there would be no escaping tomorrow's events. Except now he didn't even have the damn contract which caused all this. Which was why he was listening to the dial tone on his cell, staring at the little white business card in his hand, finger poised over the little green send button, willing the courage to finish the call. Then he blinked. "I'm not a wimp." he muttered under his breathe and pushed down on the green button.

"Don't." the stern voice came from directly behind him and all Ryoma could do was choke down a gasp as a strong pair of arms reached around his waist and one large, warm hand wrapped around his, forcing him into closing his cell.

"Tezuka," Ryoma whispered as the suit behind him skillfully navigated the cell out of his closed fist. Once the phone was gone, the warm embrace he had been a part of ended abruptly, Tezuka obviously stepping back to respect the other boy's space. Echizen swung around in time to see Tezuka across the room, gently placing his cell phone on a coffee table.

"You had no right to stop me from making that call," Ryoma glared at the taller man, now that the shock had ended he was furious.

"It was for the good of both you and Fuji, Echizen-kun. There are things you don't understand now. But you will soon." Tezuka explained vaguely.

"I understand just fine Tezuka Kunimitsu. You broke into my house and stole my cell phone. You've threatened me last week and now a man that promised to help me has yet to contact me. You haven't done anything to Fuji-san, have you Tezuka?" Ryoma asked suspiciously.

The brunette sighed and reached for the briefcase he had dropped on the floor earlier. "Fuji is just fine Echizen-kun. Your concerns for him are unwarranted. No one could do anything to him that he doesn't ask for first. As for his assistance, I have already informed him that you will not be requiring that at this time. And this is yours." A stack of white papers were handed to Ryoma and he shuddered before hesitantly accepting his contract back.

"I believe everything is now back in order," Tezuka stated as he closed up his briefcase, "I would just like to ask you to one, refuse any contact with Fuji Syusuke from now on and two, honor our previous request of returning to Seigaku Records tomorrow morning. To comply with our wishes we will be sending transportation tomorrow morning to pick you up at 9 am. Please be ready."

"Not happening." Ryoma refused, eyes glaring, arms crossed, willing the suit to do his worst.

"You don't have a choice Echizen-kun." Tezuka seemed to regret saying that as his eyes had softened, perhaps he was disappointed in Echizen but Ryoma could care less. This was his life and he had been enjoying it before this suit showed up. He wasn't going to let this man ruin everything he had worked for.

The singer strode across the room to stand in front of the suit, snatching his phone back from the table and opening it up again. When he saw the screen was blinking Ryoma let out a groan and tossed the cell into the suit's face. He had more than one phone in this mansion and if worse comes to worse he could go use a phone in town. But as he turned to leave Tezuka grabbed him again. "Until you get in the limo tomorrow, there won't be a phone in Japan that will work for you Echizen-kun," Tezuka calmly stated as he maintained a firm grip on his wrist.

"So what? I don't need Fuji-san. I'll hire my own lawyer and they'll sue your company and deal with any legal fees you hit me with tomorrow." Ryoma taunted as he tried to twist out of the older man's grip.

"This has nothing to do with _fees_ Echizen. This contract is far more important than that. Haven't you figured that out yet?" Tezuka was definitely disappointed now.

"Then why don't you tell me what this is all about?" Ryoma demanded, frustrated that Tezuka was being so secretive.

"Tomorrow you'll find out everything. Until then, you need to trust me and wait." Tezuka's watch suddenly beeped and he glanced down at it, releasing his grip on Ryoma. Ryoma stumbled forward at the sudden release and swung around to find himself in an empty room. He shook his head at Tezuka's disappearing trick and glanced over to see both his cell phone and the contract neatly placed on the coffee table. Tezuka was nothing if not organized.

Echizen sat down in an armchair and thought about what had just happened. Unconsciously he rubbed his wrist as he thought since there was still a slight tingle from where Tezuka had grabbed him. Should he try calling Fuji-san? Should he take the limo if it came tomorrow? Should he trust Tezuka? Nothing made sense anymore and he didn't know who to trust.

Tbc…


End file.
